(You think this photo is crazy? Check out Palhares’ official response.)
Rousimar Palhares turned in an equally impressive and despicable performance in submitting Jake Shields at WSOF 22 last weekend, defending his welterweight title for the second time in the process. But keeping in line with what we’ve come to expect from the Brazilian, the fight was not without its controversies – Palhares not only gouged Shields’ eyes while mounted in the second round (the damage of which you can see above), but held onto the fight-ending kimura long after referee Steve Mazzagatti had intervened.
With it being revealed earlier today that Shields has suffered significant damage to the shoulder Palhares cranked, “Toquinho” has once again found himself in the hot seat following a victory. WSOF VP Ali Abdel-Aziz threatened to strip Palhares of his title upon reviewing the fight, and on today’s The MMA Hour, WSOF President Ray Sefo followed suit, doing just that and suspending Palhares indefinitely following the NSAC’s investigation of the fight.
In regards to the eye pokes, Sefo was equally critical of both Palhares and Mazzagatti, stating, “Not only did he did it once or twice, he did it numerous times. And he was warned by the referee on four different occasions. He should have taken a point or maybe even disqualified him after he did it four times.”
As usual, Palhares has thus far appeared oblivious to the fact that he has done wrong, the mark of a true psychopath. As he told MMA Fighting yesterday:
On the eye pokes: I just protected myself. He put his head on my nose. I just put my hand there to protect myself. I did not put my fingers in his eyes. You can see it at the time.
On the kimura: I did not hold his arm (after the tap). The [referee] said to me before the fight, ‘just go out there, if I put my hand on you, stop.’ And when he put his hand on me, I stopped. I stopped. Sometimes in the fight, it’s hard, it’s difficult to feel something. When it felt it, I [stopped].
You hear that, guys? When Treetrunk Paul Harris is going HAM, he’s going HAM so hard that he can’t even feel his opponent tapping, nor the referee repeatedly hammering on his ribs in an effort to stop him fortheloveofGod…
You’d think that a high level black belt who’s already been fired once for holding onto submissions too long would have learned when to let go by now, but perhaps this is for the best. In any case, Sefo also claimed that Palhares “may never fight for us again” and that he could be looking at a multiple year ban pending the NSAC’s investigation into his latest maiming.
I think the sad part of this is the guy is a great fighter. When Jake Shields is tapping nine times and the referee is tapping you six, seven times and literally pulling you off, that’s where people are gonna get hurt. We’re in a sport. We’re not in a war where we have to eliminate people.
To which I say, good riddance. Whether Palhares is mentally slow or simply an asshole, there’s no place in the sport for a guy who cannot seem to control whether or not he seriously injures an opponent each and every time he steps in the cage.
Related: Bonus King, master of restraint, and all-around good guy Joe Lauzon thinks Palhares is “kind of a dick” and has video evidence to support it.
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